Page 57 of Home Body
“What do you mean?” her mom asked, confused.
“I mean do you always finish each other’s statements and agree on everything?”
Llayne and Mack paused to absorb the question, then burst into laughter.
“Goodness no!” Mack declared. “We’ve tried to keep our disagreements away from you kids.”
“We’ve even disagreed about that,” Llayne added. “I’ve always thought it would do you good to know that people can disagree and still love one another.”
“Tell us one thing you’ve ever disagreed over,” Zach said, more than willing to play the game of “let’s roll our parents.” He and his sister shared knowing grins.
“Well, let’s see,” Llayne said, “we disagreed about raising you kids. How’s that for an example? Ha. Your dad here…” she jabbed a thumb at her husband “…was way too lenient. You’d both be spoiled rotten if I hadn’t stepped in.” She stuck out her chin and glared at her husband.
Mack shrugged. “Guilty as charged. I could never bring myself to punish you.” He gestured at his kids.
“I remember once when you told him to talk to me about yelling at my brother,” Kenyon said, addressing her mom. “He took me to the Dairy Queen in Chelsea.”
She and Zach chuckled while Llayne reared back in mock disbelief. “No kidding?”
“Well,” Zach interjected, “when he was supposed to talk to me about stealing Kenyon’s Etch a Sketch and trying to take it apart to see how it worked and she cried, he took me to Dairy Queen, too.”
Mack defended himself. “And look. They turned out great.”
Llayne couldn’t deny that. “Yes, they did. I guess it was the balance between the two of us.”
“I think our biggest fight was about buying this house,” Mack said, going back to the original question about their disagreements. “Your mom wanted it and I didn’t.”
“Dad! You love this house.” Kenyon was surprised.
“Yes, I do. But at the time it seemed like an awful lot of money. I was worried about our budget.”
“He’s always worried about the budget.” Llayne rolled her eyes. “And here we are fifteen years later with the mortgage paid off and we’ve lived in this beautiful home all this time. And we will for years to come.”
“Okay, okay. You were right about that one,” Mack agreed. “She informed me she was buying the house and moving with you kids whether I wanted to come or not.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “So I came.”
“Okay,” Llayne said, “now that you two have entertained yourselves by diverting us from our reason for being here, here we go: I am leaving television and going to do my best to write mysteries. I’ve been wanting to do that for a very long time. We’ve decided it’s the perfect time for me to make the switch. I’ll be done at the station in a month.”
Her children couldn’t find any words.
Finally, Kenyon stated what she thought was obvious. “Mom. I’m shocked. You love television.”
“I do. But I hate the hours. For eighteen years I’ve been getting up in the wee hours of the morning. It’s either that for the early morning and noon news or the evening shift at five and ten. I’m done with that. I’ll be doing two prime-time specials on cold cases for the station each year for the next three years and writing full-time for a long time, I hope. I’ll be able to set my own schedule. That will be heaven for me.”
Kenyon didn’t know what to say. She knew from her classes that a well-established newscaster would make considerably more money than a government employee, even the director of a department like her dad. Her parents never discussed their wages with their kids, so Kenyon didn’t know that firsthand, though. But she felt certain her mom had always made the most money of the two of them.
It'd been Zach who sounded mature, while Kenyon remained confused. He said, “Congratulations, Mom. That sounds fantastic for you.”
“There’s more,” their mother said, gesturing at her husband.
“Yes, I have job news, too.” Mack squared his shoulders and took a breath. “I have been asked to run for lieutenant governor in the next election on the ticket with our present governor. As you know, he’s quite the popular guy, so we hope all goes well. The present lieutenant governor is retiring at his wife’s insistence after fifty-three years of public service. What thatmeans for us as a family is that nothing much will change other than your mom’s schedule being so different. Zach, you’ll be in college but you’re still living at home, right? I’ll still go to work in the capital every day, like I have for all your lives.”
Mack O’Brien was a humble enough guy but his pride in being invited to run for that highly esteemed position shone in his beaming face. His kids both knew he’d worked hard all his adult life to serve his community, state, and country. He deserved this honor.
“Dad, that’s awesome.” Zach stood up and put out his hand.
Mack got up to face his boy. “Thank you, son.”
They shook hands and fell into an embrace.
